1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly to a baseboard management controller and a transmission method thereof for performing high speed data exchange with a host by means of a video graphic array (VGA) module.
2. Description of the Related Art
A baseboard management controller (BMC) is a specialized service processor that monitors the physical state of a computer, a network server or other hardware device using sensors and communicating with a system administrator through an independent connection. The BMC is part of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) and is usually contained in the motherboard or a main circuit board of the device to be monitored.
The sensors of a BMC measure internal physical variables such as temperature, humidity, power-supply voltage, fan speeds, communication parameters and operating system (OS) functions. If any of these variables happens to stray outside specified limits, the administrator is notified. That person can then take corrective action by remote control. The monitored device can be power cycled or rebooted if necessary. In this manner, a single administrator can remotely manage numerous servers and other devices simultaneously, saving on the overall operating cost of the network and helping to ensure its reliability.
FIG. 1 shows an interface diagram between a BMC 100 and a host 150 according to prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, conventionally, a BMC 100 is loosely coupled with a host CPU 120. The host CPU 120 accesses a shared memory or registers 101 via a chipset 122 and one of a low pin count (LPC) bus and a system management bus (SMB) 128. A microprocessor 103 of the BMC 100 also accesses the shared memory/registers 101 via a microprocessor bus 118 to thereby communicate with the host CPU 120. However, a traditional data exchange between the BMC 100 and the host CPU 120 is achieved by software handshaking and thus its data transmission efficiency is not high. It tends to spend a lot of time performing a huge volume data exchange between the BMC 100 and the host CPU 120.
Accordingly, what is needed is a baseboard management controller and a transmission method thereof to address the above-identified problems. The invention addresses such a need.